Note: This story takes place at Degrassi Community School one year after Emma, Manny, etc. graduate.

Characters:

Vanessa Griffin: Grade 10. Raised in a trailer park in Florida. Moved to Canada in Grade 7 when mother inherited $22M from a rich grandmother. Best friend is Liz Tucker.

Liz Tucker: Grade 10. Cousin of Gavin "Spinner" Mason, now 20. Goth. Matt Tucker's sister.

Phillip "Lip" Grossman: Grade 10. Jewish. Plays baseball. Has crush on Nelly Bennington. Best friend Matt Russo.

Matt Tucker: Grade 9. Plays baseball. Sexuality currently being questioned, and no one knows. Straight-A student. Obsessed with shoes. Liz Tucker's brother.

Nelly Bennington: Grade 9. One of three Grade 9 Spirit Squad cheerleaders. Has crush on Phillip "Lip" Grossman. Has somewhat of a "reputation" at Degrassi. Best friend Kaci Robbins.

Kaci Robbins: Grade 9. Moved from California to Canada in Grade 4. Obsessed with flip-flops and beanies. Secretly envies best friend, Nelly Bennington. Likes Phillip "Lip" Grossman, but hides it from Nelly.

Ch. 1: New Beginnings

"I can't believe we're already starting grade 9. It seems like yesterday I met you in grade 4... wow, surreal." Kaci Robbins evened out her blonde braids in the girls' bathroom mirror. "Just wow."

"Oh, I know. It's been a long time. Hmm, I wonder if anything will happen this year between me and Lip. He's gotten so much cuter since the summer." Nelly Bennington applied cherry lipgloss to her full lips. Lips that so many girls at Degrassi envied, including Kaci. Nelly had the hugest crush on Phillip "Lip" Bennington, since grade 6.

"Maybe. We'll see. Let's go. I have Media Immersion with Simpson first. I heard that class was boring." Kaci looked at her schedule.

"Oh, I have Geometry. Wonder if we have any of the same classes together?" The girls butted heads and compared schedules. Only English and Gym together. Not too shabby for a school Degrassi's size. "Awesome. See you in English. 'Bye!"

Kaci headed out of the bathroom as Nelly continued to admire herself in the mirror. Well, this year will certainly bring some changes... No more random hooking up for me. I'm done with that. This year, one man for me. And that man is Lip.

Matt Tucker walked into Media Immersion and sat down at a computer near the back. Ah, an easy class. This one should be a piece of cake. Especially since all my other classes are insanely hard.

"Matt!" Kaci squealed as soon as she saw him and bent over to give him a hug. "Wow! How are you? How was your summer?"

Matt stared at Kaci. "Good, I guess. Me and Lip played a lot of baseball with the guys. You know... the usual."

"That's cool. I'm so glad to be finally in the high school! And everyone says grade 9 is the worst year. Like, ever."

Matt snickered. "Freshmeat. That's what you are."

"Thanks. Nice nickname for me."

"You know what? I'm going to claim you as my little freshman, my niner."

"Ooh. Awesome." Kaci sat down next to Matt. Maybe me submitting to being Matt's 'freshman' will bring me closer to Lip. I wish Nelly didn't like him... This totally complicates things. Hey, Matt's cute. Maybe I'll go after him or something.

Mr. Simpson walked into the classroom. "Hello, everyone! Welcome to the grade 9 Media Immersion class. If you're not in grade 9, get out." A few kids began to stand up. "Just kidding, just kidding. Everyone is welcome in Media Immersion. Does anyone here know HTML? You know, web language?"

Mr. Simpson's voice trailed off as Kaci snuck secret glances at Matt. He's really cute come to think of it. Really, really cute.

"God, I can't believe my little brother is in the high school now," Liz Tucker sneered at Vanessa Griffin. Liz's black babydoll dress with its white cap sleeves and her knee-high black combat boots made her stand out among the lunch crowd of high schoolers. Matt, her brother, was across the cafeteria sitting with his best friend Lip.

"God, I can't believe you, like, turned into a total goth. You were so much more normal before the summer. Of course, normal is relative..." Vanessa Griffin's voice trailed off as she checked out the grade 12 boys. "Wow, now that is not normal. It's godlike."

Vanessa pointed out Joshua Sinclair, a senior. "He's positively gorgeous. Can you believe he's related to Heather Sinclair?"

Liz laughed. "Actually, yeah, I can. Too bad Heather's too much of a bitch for anyone to want to claim relations to her. Sucks for me how I'm related to Spinner. He's such a spaz. Can you believe he's still working the lunch duty? Guess he can't find a job at college."

"Haha, nope." Vanessa continued to stare at Joshua. Hmm... I wonder...

Nelly sat on Lip's lap during lunch. "You know, we should all go out sometime. Like to the movies or something." Nelly was pretty straightforward about everything and generally got what she wanted. She was known in grade 8 as somewhat of a "slut" due to blowjobs given to several guys in grades 9 and 10. Her grade 9 resolution was to get past that reputation and become a one-man woman.

"You know what? We should. The new Jennifer Lopez movie is playing tonight." Lip smiled at Nelly. His curly blonde locks stood out against his tanned face. His sculptured arms and face made him look as if he worked out every day rather than simply play baseball all summer long. Baseball and Halo 2 on X-Box, that is.

"Awesome." Nelly chewed on a piece of Trident and blew a small bubble. "So how about me and Kaci meet you at the theater? Say, 7 o'clock? I know, it's a school night, but we have, like, no homework, right?"

Kaci glared at Nelly's flirtations. That girl has the nerve... Kaci went over and sat next to Matt. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's go."

The plans were set for the night... It was what the evening had planned, or rather what Nelly had planned for the evening that would make it interesting...

Let me know what you guys think! Suggestions and everything are welcome. I'll try to update within the next 2 weeks...